Do you have a small mirrorless camera and wish that it had a super-slim lens so it can actually fit into your pocket? Then you need this lens!
Small mirrorless cameras are pretty rare these days, but they do exist – like the Fujifilm X-M5 and Olympus PEN E-P7, and even the Sony A6700 and Sony A7C II. The problem is, while the bodies themselves are small, as soon as you put a lens on them they stop being pocketable.
The solution, of course, is to buy a pancake lens – but it's always been hard to make a universal recommendation, because most lenses are mount-specific.
However, I bought this brilliant lens that's made in multiple mounts: the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II is available for Sony E, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Micro Four Thirds cameras.
This lens is so supremely thin, at just 8mm, that it adds virtually nothing to the depth of your camera body. In fact, it's so thin that my Olympus PEN Mini with this lens is the same size as my favorite compact camera, the Olympus Stylus SH-3!
Unlike a lot of ultra-thin lenses, the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II actually has a useful focal length and usable aperture. On an APS-C camera it becomes an effective 27mm lens, while on a Micro Four Thirds camera it's a 36mm equivalent – both of which are great for street, travel, documentary and reportage photography.
The construction is all-metal, and it's very solid and well-made, though you're obviously not getting weather sealing at this price. As you'd expect, it's a manual focus affair – but the fixed f/6.3 aperture means that depth of field is pretty generous, making snap / zone focusing a breeze.
Image quality isn't going to win any awards, but it's very usable and you can get some great street and travel shots – again, the priority here is having something pocketable for snap shooting those decisive moments, rather than something clinical for pixel-peeping.
And of course, it also serves as a useful body cap lens – so your camera is always ready to snap that spontaneous shot, even when all your kit is sitting on the camera shelf.
This is one of the most fun lenses I've ever bought – it's immensely fun to shoot with and it's so bloody nice to have a mirrorless camera that genuinely slips into my pocket!
Get the lens for cheap
The 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II is in the current Amazon Prime Day camera deals. It's reduced by 15% in the US, UK and Canada across all mounts.
🇺🇸 US deal
🇬🇧 UK deal
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A couple more of the best pancake lenses I personally recommend are the Olympus 9mm Fisheye Body Cap (review) for Micro Four Thirds and the Samyang Remaster Slim (review) for Sony cameras.
